JPF Home Page Forums Creative Arts Forums Cooking, Crafting, Hobbies and Other Creative Pursuits JPF Cookbook- Desserts/Sweets

OK, folks. Here is the DESSERT/SWEETS category. This would include cakes, pies, puddings, cookies, candy etc. Please mention the history of the recipe if possible.


For the recipes themselves, please specify the measurements, cooking or baking time, procedure and if possible please have photos of the finished dish. If the procedure is a little complicated, some photos of the process may be helpful as well.

Also, it might be cool if we had some people testing the recipes and letting us know how they worked out.

Thanks!

I'm a first class, top a' the line tester Jean!!!!---Put me down as No 1 tester.
<G>
WyMud

It's a deal, Wy. We will be expecting your testimonies!

I'm posting this here and the bread thread.
This recipe came about, like many, by accident. Lisa decided to make blueberry muffins and after getting things going realized she did not have enough white flour, nor did she have vanilla extract so I mentioned wheat flour and almond extract, which we had at hand, as possibilities. Well, Judge for yourself.

Mama Lisa's Blueberry Banana Walnut Muffins
On the cooling rack.
The small loaves have browned coconut flakes added.


Just the best darned muffins you will ever eat.

2 cups white flour
½ cup wheat flour
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut up
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
2 med bananas
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
½ tsp almond extract
1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a LARGE 6 muffin size tin. In a large bowl
combine flour, sugars, baking powders and salt. Cut in butter until mixture
resembles course crumbs. Stir in walnuts. In a separate bowl, mash bananas
and mix in milk, eggs and almond extract. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin tins
all the way to the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Immediately remove muffins from
tin and cool on wire rack. Makes 6 large muffins.

*Note: You may use the smaller size muffin tins but it's my opinion they bake up better in the large size. I like the consistency better. YMMV.

Okay, hiwigo...

JOE’S COOKIES:

MIX:

2 eggs (without the shells)
1 cup any kind or combination of sugar
one 4-oz. Package of instant pudding (1)
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla (2)
½ to 1 tsp. Cinnamon
½ to 1 tsp. Ginger
½ tsp. Water
2 cubes (1/2 lb.) butter, microwaved (3)

Mix with big spoon until the consistency of baby poop.

ADD:

2-1/4 cups flour (any kind)

MIX SOME MORE, AND ADD:

½ of 12-oz. bag (don’t want to be greedy) chocolate chips (4)

MIX SOME MORE, AND ADD AS MUCH AS YOU WANT OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

Nuts (any kind)
Coconut
Oatmeal (the “old-fashioned” kind works best)
Raisins
Dried cranberries
M&Ms

BAKE AT A LITTLE OVER 300 DEGREES FOR ABOUT 18 MINUTES.
MAKES ABOUT 5 DOZEN COOKIES (5).

NOTES:

(1) I usually use vanilla pudding, but any kind works. When I use chocolate pudding, I put in white chips so you can see ‘em. Pistachio pudding for St. Patrick’s Day, that sort of thing.
(2) Does not have to be vanilla. I regularly use almond or peppermint extract instead. I always use the real stuff, though.
(3) For 35 seconds on high. If you’re feeling cheap, go ahead and substitute margarine.
(4) Hey, you can use anything. White chips, peanut butter chips, raisins (some people are allergic to chocolate, poor souls), and so on.
(5) The more Other Stuff you add, the more cookies you end up with.

IF YOU'RE FEELING REALLY LAZY, dump the batter in a greased 9x13 pan and bake roughly 28 minutes at 325-350 degrees (gotta watch it). Makes "cookie cake." It's done when you can poke a knife in and it doesn't come out with any batter on it (just melted chocolate).

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Thanks, Dak and Joe! Would love some photos of these yummy recipes. If anyone tries out the recipe and would like to send a photo, please do.

This is my mother in laws recipe. Next time I make it I will snap a photo and post it here. Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

1cup Sugar ½ tsp Salt
½ cup Crisco 1 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg 2 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Milk
2 cups Flour

Cream Sugar, Crisco and Egg together then add dry ingredients, alternate adding dry ingredients then the Milk and Vanilla.

Spread into an un-greased 9x13 pan, at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Add fresh or frozen strawberries and enjoy.

Approximately 300 calories each serving.

Thanks, Viki!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake



You have to make this cake in 3 steps.

Step #1
1 15 ounce can pineapple rings
Maraschino cherries

Arrange pineapple rings on bottom of a nonstick 3" deep springform pan or oiled large cast iron dutch oven, then place maraschino cherries inside pineapple rings.

Step #2
Melt 1/2 stick butter in saucepan, then add 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup pineapple juice or apple juice. Boil until mixture thickens. You must stir this mixture often during the reduction. It should look like a syrup when it's ready to pour over the pineapple rings and the maraschino cherries. (You should have approximately 1 cup of liquid once reduced.)

Step #3
Mix yellow cake mix (any name brand will do) according to the box directions and pour slowly over pineapple rings, cherries and syrup mixture. Bake at temperature suggested on cake mix box. The cake is done when the top is a golden color and when it has pulled away from sides of pan slightly. Allow to cool before flipping onto serving platter or cake dish.

** Helpful hint: Cooking the cake thoroughly will allow you to flip it onto a serving plate or cake plate easier and will help ensure that the cake will not come apart during the process.

Thanks, Tricia. Can you pop in that nice picture you had in the other forum? Now, pardon me while I wipe the drool from my chin.

That's a cook's best compliment, Ms. Jean. Thank you!!

Vicki, is the texture like a sponge cake or more like pound cake? Just curious. Recipe looks easy, though.

Southern Tea Cakes



Adapted from Paula Deen's recipe:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder together. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Dough should be soft. Roll dough out onto a floured surface until approximately 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into desired shapes and bake on a slightly greased sheet for 12 to 13 minutes. These cookies will look like they aren't quite done when the timer goes off but they are-they should be just crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

seems Paula left out 1 ingredient(to be kept a family secret) that my grandma put in that made her's different from anybody else's and she had many a person try to get her secret ingredient which she told to me later on before she passed away and since it can never be revealed only enjoyed in the eating of it I'll leave it to my children to pass on to their's

Well, gee thanks, Gary. Heck. If you ain't gonna share, why'd you mention it in the first darned place?

P.S. Cream of tarter.

What Tricia said.

Tricia, are we supposed to add cream of tarter to the tea cakes then? How much?

Ms. Jean, the recipe I use does not call for it. Some do. I'll have to check out the amount and edit the recipe as an optional ingredient. I will tell you that the black women I work with assured me that the teacakes I made tasted as good as their grandmothers or their mothers make.

Unrelated. The idea of Tea Cake is perversely attractive. Standard box cakes call for the addition of a cup or so of water. What would happen if you added tea instead? And what kind of tea? (Orange Pekoe over Chinese Black, probably. But there could be a lot of options.)

Joe

Joe, I don't know if they'd turn out as well. They'd probably be crumbly and not hold together well. It's sort of like a biscuit combined with a sugar cookie, though not as sweet.

Easy Peach Cobbler
(an easy recipe given to me by my Granny when I first got married.)

1 cup all purpose flour
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 small cans sliced peaches (works best with heavy syrup but can use light syrup variety)

Pour melted margarine or butter in 2.5 to 3 quart baking dish. Mix flour, sugar, buttermilk & baking soda to make batter, then pour over melted butter or margarine in baking dish. Next, pour sliced peaches, along with juice over the batter. Do NOT mix. Bake at 350 degrees F until crust has risen to top and browned. This should take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Serves 6 to 8 people easily and can be halved easily to accomodate fewer people. We enjoy it served with a scoop of ice cream.

K, I finally made it over here and it looks so sweet, I have to add one!

This is a recipe I got from my husbands grandmother (now 92). She got it from her g'mother, years and years ago.

Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour bundt pan (time and temp vary for other pans, if using a rectangular cake pan, decrease cook time by about 10 minutes, do not use an unglazed stoneware baker, it dries the cake out)

Dry ingr.

3 C All Purpose Flour
2 C Sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

*(no you can't cheat and use self rising flour, it doesn't work)

Wet ingr.
1 C oil (no substitutions found here, I've tried)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (or almond) extract

1 C chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
4-5 Granny Smith Apples, diced (med size apples)

Stir together all dry ingr. in a large bowl, WITH A SPOON, stir in all other ingr. (do not try to use a mixer, it will burn up, you'll be mad, and I'll have to laugh and say "told ya so") Add apples and nuts, pour (well, doesn't really pour, but put it)in the pan, bake for 1 hour, cool, enjoy.

Will have to try that one, Caroline. I've been craving cinnamon lately.

Wow, that Peach cobbler sounds yummy and easy to make. Have you tried it with any other canned fruits?

That Apple cake sound yummy too. When you stir it with a spoon, do you beat it like a regular cake or just stir until well mixed?

what, no cinnamon on that cobbler?

No, Ms. Jean. But, I bet it'd be excellent with cherries or pears. To answer your question, Gary, no it doesn't but I think if you added cinnamon to it once you get the peaches on top, it'd be excellent.

From: Favorite Recipes from Historic Farmerville (Home of Lake D'Arbonne) It's a recipe book that I've had since 1976-the year I graduated from high school.

Preserving Children

1 large grassy field
6 children
3 small dogs
hot sun
flowers
deep blue sky
narrow strip of brook with pebbles

Mix the children with and the dogs and empty onto the field, stirring continuously. Sprinkle the field with flowers, pour over brook with pebbles. Cover all with a deep blue sky and bake in the hot sun. When children are well browned, they may be removed. Will be found right for setting away to cool in bath tub.

Very nice, Tricia. I thought from the title it might be competition to my "don't ask" cookies, but I see it's not. (I need to bake cookies for the goat roast tomorrow. I better get busy doing that.)

Joe

One of my tried and true favorite recipes from Favorite Recipes from Historic Farmerville (Home of Lake D'Arbonne) .

Banana Pudding

Line 9 x 9 baking dish bottom and sides with Vanilla Wafers, then layer 3 sliced bananas over wafers. Set aside until custard is cooked.

For custard:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 T flour
1/4 tsp salt

Mix above ingredients together in large saucepan, then add:
2 cups milk with 3 beaten egg yolks. (Reserve egg whites in separate mixing bowl.) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, then pour over wafers and sliced bananas. Allow 30 minutes to cool.

Use the remaining egg whites for meringue. Whip using medium-high setting until very frothy, then add 4-6 T sugar slowly while whipping then turn mixer to high setting. Whip until egg whites "peak". Spread over cooled custard. Then brown slightly, using broil setting on oven. Meringue will burn very quickly so you have to watch it carefully. Once browned, remove from oven and place in refrigerator for 2 hours. Serves 6-8 people.

I don't usually like banana recipes, but this one sounds so yummy. And I love meringue. Can other fruits be used as well?

I don't know why not, Ms. Jean. Bananas are just so darned good in this one, though.

I like to eat plain bananas when they are yellow and firm with no sugar spots. It's mostly the taste of ripe bananas that I don't like.

Ms. Jean, I tend to like my bananas firmer. We usually eat them before they get "ripe". What I meant by "ripe" was not too green.

This is a modified recipe from a cookbook my Granny gave me when I first got married 29+ years ago. In fact, Cooking Country Style by Bethel United Methodist Church in Logansport, LA was the very FIRST cookbook I ever owned. It's seen me through many a dish. It's one of those that has grease stains and some of the pages have stuff splattered on them. I love it. Anyway, here's the recipe was originally submitted to the cookbook by Mrs. Nanny Creech-a distant relation on my father's side of the family:



Banana Nut Bread
(modified from Mrs. Nannie Creech's recipe)

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or chopped pecans (I prefer walnuts for this recipe)
Apricot marmalade

Cream butter well. (Allow to come to room temperature first or place stick in 2 cup glass measuring cup to microwave 20 seconds.) Add sugar gradually to butter, creaming well, then add the 2 well beaten eggs. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and add to the creamed butter and sugar. Next, add buttermilk, banana pulp and vanilla. Mix well but avoid overbeating. Lastly, add chopped nuts. Pour in greased Bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes at 325 degrees F. Once cooled and out of pan, cut with serrated knife to serve. Use a good dollop of apricot marmalade before serving.

Note: This will work well adding all dry ingredients to all wet ingredients but add them in thirds. You still need to sift the dry ingredients beforehand and you still need to add the nuts last.

Looking yummy, Ms. Tricia. Thank you. I'll bet the buttermilk makes it extra special.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Borrowed from Tina Smith at Cherry Hill Cottage)

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 ¼ cups bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 T milk
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt butter in heavy bottom medium saucepan over low heat or allow the sticks of butter to come to room temperature and place in large mixing bowl. Allowing to come to room temperature cuts down on chilling time. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda then set aside. Cream sugars and flour mixture, then add the egg, yolk, 2 T milk, vanilla then mix until combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Next add nuts and chocolate chips. Chill the dough well-it should feel hard to the touch. Use small ice cream scoop and quickly shape into 1” balls. Place onto parchment lined baking sheets-6 to a sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies every 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets for even browning. Cool completely and store in airtight container.

***Note: The snack plate I have the cookies on is a reproduction of Clementine Hunter's painting called "Threshing Pecans" purchased at Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches Parish.

Information about Clementine Hunter obtained from Wikipedia that some may find interesting:

Hunter has become one of the most well known self-taught artists. People often referred to her as the Black Grandma Moses. She is generally credited as being a social historian capturing portrayals of various scenes of a dying plantation life, including picking cotton, gathering pecans, washing clothes, baptisms and funeral scenes. Hunter was noted for painting on any materials, particularly discarded items such as window shades, cardboard boxes, jugs, bottles, and gourds. Her paintings rarely run larger than 18 by 24 inches and her work has generally been considered uneven, with her work from the 1940s to 1960 considered to be the best.

It is very hard for historians to sort out myth from fact in the stories and legends that surround her life. Though she became a hugely respected artist and is today considered a folk art legend, Hunter spent her entire life in (or near) poverty. It is said that she never truly grasped the worth of her own artwork, and in her later life would often sell paintings for a few hundred dollars.

One of the more well-known displays of Hunter's artwork is located in a slave's quarters (referred to as an "African House") on the grounds of Melrose Plantation. The entirety of the walls are covered in a mural Hunter painted in 1955; it depicts scenes of Cane River plantation life. Upon its original completion a local newspaper ran the headline: "A 20th Century Woman of Color Finishes a Story Begun 200 Years Ago by an 18th Century Congo-Born Slave Girl, Marie-Therese, the original grantee of Melrose Plantation."

Hunter co-authored Melrose Plantation Cookbook with Francois Mignon. Ms. Hunter died on January 1, 1988.

A great recipe- with interesting history too. Thank you.

Thought you might like the history on Ms. Hunter, Ms. Jean. Her paintings used to sell for a bargain price of $750.00 25 years ago. Wish I'd had the money back then. You can't touch them now for under $2000.

Another recipe modified from a recipe in a cookbook by Grandmother gave me:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Blend together all ingredients using your hands. Order is not important. Chill dough for 2 hours in refrigerator. Once chilled, roll into 1" balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Place in preheated 350 degree oven. Cook for 10-12 minutes. (10 minutes only if you want a chewy cookie-longer from cruchy cookie.) Allow to cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before removing. Will make 16 large cookies.

Ms. Tricia, Peanut Butter Cookies are my favorites. Mine never looked as good as yours. Did you press the back of the fork tines in them criss cross or just one way? Also, is the picture of the chewy kinds or the crispy kinds?

You should have your own cooking show.

I just pressed the tines one way. They sort of bake out anyway some. It's an easy recipe to make-it's fun because you use your fingers to mix the dough. Show??? Oh, I'm too introverted for that. I will just keep posting stuff for the fundraiser here. LOL!

Well, I think you would do well on a show. I started school in August but I will have some time next month to continue collecting the recipes in a locked thread.

Tomato Soup Spice Cake

1 stick butter (or ½ cup)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 can tomato soup
¼ cup milk or heavy cream
1 egg
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
6 crushed Allspice berries or ¼ tsp ground Allspice
½ cup nuts (optional)

Cream softened butter with sugar, then add tomato soup, milk and egg and slowly start adding flour and spices. (Note: You will need a mortar and pestle to crush Allspice berries.) Mix in nuts. Bake in two greased 9” cake pans or 5” x 9” sheet cake pan in 350 degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Frosting:

1 8 ounce pkg softened cream cheese
1 ½ cup + 2 T powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Whip cream cheese with hand mixer for a minute or two to make sure it is creamy in consistency, then begin adding the powdered sugar slowly until all incorporated, then add vanilla. Spread over cake.

Tricia, it says Peanut Butter Cookies. Did you see my recipe for flour-less PB cookies? I cup PB (I use crunchy) 1 egg, and 1 cup sugar. Makes a dozen large chewy cookies. Bake at low temp.

I love spice cake. Made one last week. I use raisins, and sometimes nuts. I'll try your frosting. I usually use softened butter instead of cream cheese.

Try using a couple Tbs. of molasses or cane syrup (I know that you have cane syrup in La., tastes like molasses, you may have to buy it on the roadside). I have to drive 60 miles north of here to find it. They sell it in a barber shop. They put it in old liqour bottles.

Hey, Ben. Haven't seen your PB cookie recipe yet. Will look at it later. Will be working 4 more 12's so no cooking baking for me this week.

Ms. Tricia, I have never tried Tomato Soup Spice Cake. It sounds intriguing.

Ben, I am going to have to go back and look for that recipe. I love peanut butter anything.

Jean, it was really good. It makes a thin cake in a sheetpan almost like a browning. The spices are perfect for this time of year.

Pumpkin Bread

Modified from The Plantation Cookbook by the New Orleans Junior League

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 can pumpkin
¼ cup water
2 eggs
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup shortening
½ to ¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in mixing bowl. Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Stir in pumpkin. Then, add dry ingredients a little at a time, along with the water. Add pecans last and mix well. Pour into greased 5” x 9” loaf pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes. Turn out on rack right side up to cool. Excellent with softened cream cheese.

Hey...I've been looking fro my banana nut bread recipe for a while now...couldn't find it. I think this is as close as I'll get to what I had so I'm going to make this tomorrow! Sounds yummy. The first time I ever made this with buttermilk in it I was floored at the taste and texture...so much better than without. The recipe I had said to dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and let it risewhile you were preparing the rest of the recipe. It was sooo good...but I bet this will be too!